KARACHI : Dr Farooq Sattar, former senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), on Tuesday termed Mayor Wasim Akhtar’s outburst at yesterday’s farewell press conference “crocodile tears”.

He said the Karachi mayor kept mum over four years of his tenure by operating in collusion (muk mukka) with parties he has now been complaining about.

Farooq Sattar said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) got Rs4 billion grant from the Sindh government every year for uplift schemes besides funds from the federal government yet the mayor had been griping about lack of funds.

Wasim Akhtar had gotten visibly emotional while addressing the farewell press conference at the KMC head office yesterday, throwing away bundle of letters, he said, he had written to the chief minister, the prime minister and others.

“I wrote several letters to the federal and Sindh governments for resolution of Karachi’s problems, but got no replies”, he said. “The Sindh government considers Karachi an ATM and it now wants to further divide the city.”

He said the people of Karachi were facing severe crises.